Chianti Ristorante & Wine Bar

An interesting lunch at Chianti Ristorante & Wine Bar! Lovely Italian food!

I had been watching the billboard of Chianti Ristorante & Wine Bar since it was getting constructed. I stay close to the area and the fact that in comes on my way often was adding to the temptation of going there. When, one afternoon I was talking to Suman that we should meet for lunch, she mentioned Chianti, I immediately agreed.

It is situated just a little beyond the left turn on the Sukh Sagar road almost opposite to where Ping used to be.  The first impression when you enter the place is of a warm little Italian joint where you can be comfortably eat your meal. Nothing too fancy (apart from big chandeliers may be ;)).

Suman was already waiting so we got on to the business of eating, We were welcomed by the very familiar make your own bruschetta (remember Fiorano?) a nice bread a bit of garlic, basil and cherry tomato rubbed and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and it was yum.

 

 

Though now that I think of it, I can’t recall whether this was served when I went there the first time or not (that is with Suman and yes I have gone there once already with a friend). The first time we went there, the wine wasn’t available. The manager said they are going to start serving it in a week or so and hence we got on to ordering our food, for antipasto we ordered the day’s special – the black board menu (I love the concept of the day’s special on the blackboard menu. It gives the restaurant an opportunity to keep introducing more stuff without having to really revamp the whole menu. Also its a great way to test the dishes to be brought on the menu, isn’t it?) That day, it was cutlet made out of risotto rice and was really yum.

 

 

For the main course, Suman ordered a gnocchi with four cheese sauce and I ordered a Cannelloni stuffed with chicken. The gnocchi was spot on. Light and fluffy, just as it should be.. In fact, I would say one of the best I have eaten in Bangalore.

 

 

The Cannelloni  was nice too, though I felt the coating could have been a tad thinner, nonetheless the flavours were spot on again. The tomato sauce that this was served with, was nice and chunky and not that run of the mill pureed sauces that you get in most places. It had the balance of right amount of tanginess and sweetness to it which is really important, in my opinion.

 

 

The second time I went with another friend, we ordered fried gnocchi for the antipasto again from the blackboard menu and yet again the texture of the gnocchi was perfect. When you break open that fried piece what one gets is light and fluffy inside though personally I liked the gnocchi with the sauce better than the fried version but that’s just me.

 

 

For the mains, I ordered Picata Di Pesce – Grilled basa with Shrimp sauce, mashed potato and garden vegetables. I am totally fish person and loved it, correctly spiced and the sauce had a perfect balance of flavours, a bit pungent with lemon to cut it a down bit 🙂

I didn’t eat much of mashed potatoes but whatever came was nice and creamy. The vegetables had a slight crunch to them which I personally enjoy but some might say it was a tad under cooked.

 

 

The other dish we ordered was Ravioli with four cheese sauce, again an a near perfect ravioli which we totally enjoyed eating.

 

 

BTW this was the accompaniment to our meal the second time around. Yup, a red wine Sangria.

 

 

And now to my favorite part of the meal the desserts 🙂 The first time we ordered panacotta with a berry compote and a tiramisu. The berry compote on the pancotta was to die for. The panacotta could have been a tad less gelatiny but was good nonetheless. The berry compote was so good that I am ready to forgive everything else, only if I had a little more of that compote on the plate.

 

 

And here is the tiramisu, one of my all time favorite desserts. A dessert that I am very critical about. Coming to this one the cheese layer – perfect, the sponge could have been a tad better but still over all a good one, also that biscotti was nice and crisp.

 

 

The second time around we ordered a mango cheesecake and shared it and what came on the table was a perfect dessert, like they say 10/10 🙂

 

 

I would say this is what Kormangala needed, a good Italian place after Firano shut and the quality of Via Milano came down.

Meal for two – Rs 1500/-

Parking – Lanes surrounding the restaurant.

Rest Rooms – Clean and sparkling.

Child Friendly – Child friendly in attitude of serves etc though they don’t have child special menus.